Past Tense

Chapter 14


Brian slid the loft door back and entered.

“Hey,” Justin said. He was sitting at the dining room table working on something. “I said hello,” Justin called as Brian went directly to his computer and booted it up. “Brian?” he said when he still got no response. “Is something the matter? Brian!”

“No, no, nothing’s the matter,” Brian mumbled as he typed something into the computer.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking something.”

“What?” Justin asked as he headed towards the computer to see what Brian was doing.

“I want to see what comes up on Google when I type in Kevin Thomas,” Brian replied as the little whirling thing on the computer was working.

“Who’s Kevin Thomas?”

“The ad exec that Chase Hammond was working with before he jumped ship at Barton and MacLean,” Brian explained. “Shit!” Brian reacted as information came up on the screen.

“What?”

“There’s nothing about Kevin Thomas other than his association with Barton and MacLean, and a couple of advertising awards he won in Philadelphia a couple of years ago.”

“But … isn’t that what you expected?” Justin asked.

“No, I was hoping it would link to Kip Thomas.”

“Kip?” Justin asked with a puzzled look. Then the lightning hit. “You think Kip and Kevin are the same person.”

“Yeah.”

“Holy fuck!”

“That’s an understatement,” Brian said rubbing his temples. The headache he had been fighting ever since Chase’s last words to him was beginning to throb.

“How did you find this out?” Justin asked.

Brian told him about his dinner with Chase and how he kept forgetting to ask who Chase had been working with at Barton and MacLean. As Chase drove off he had no idea of the impact his final words had on Brian.

“Shouldn’t you pass this suspicion on to Mr. Spade?” Justin asked as Brian just sat there in his chair staring at the computer.

“Yeah,” Brian said after a minute. He picked up the phone and hit the number he had on speed dial. It didn’t take him long to explain to Sam about Kip and/or Kevin Thomas. Sam was glad to have the information. “Done,” Brian said with a weary sigh as he hung up the phone.

“You okay?” Justin asked wrapping his arms around Brian’s neck as he stood behind him.

“I’ll be a fucking lot better when this is finally cleared up.” Brian swiped his hand across his face. “I have the mother of all headaches.”

“No wonder,” Justin said. “Go have a hot shower and I’ll get you something to eat.”

“Not hungry.”

“Brian…”

“Don’t start.”

“But…”

“Shower … now!” Brian ordered before he headed up to the bedroom, and Justin knew he was to follow. Sometimes pain management could be a bitch. Justin ran up the steps shedding clothes as he went. Some pain management, however, had fringe benefits.



*****



After a couple of rounds of steam and heat, both in the shower and in the bedroom, Brian and Justin lay on their backs side by side on the bed. Justin glanced over at his partner. He hoped the sex had helped. It had certainly helped him to two memorable orgasms.

“You feel better?” Justin asked.

“Yeah.”

“That’s good,” Justin said, a little smile crinkling the corners of his mouth.

There was a long period of silence. Justin wondered if he should just wait or if he should start talking. He still, after all this time, had trouble reading Brian’s preference at times like this.

“You can talk,” Brian said after a while. “I know you want to.”

Justin chuckled. “How do you know that?”

“The gerbil in your head is running his treadmill at high speed. I can hear it squeaking. That’s a sure sign that you want to talk.”

Justin turned his head and stared at Brian. The man could still surprise and amaze him. “I was just wondering what it would mean if Kip Thomas is also Kevin Thomas,” Justin said softly. He waited for Brian to answer.

“I’ve been wondering that too. I think it’s what gave me the fucking headache.”

“Did you come to any conclusions before I helped relieve your headache?” Justin asked with a little grin.

“Not really,” Brian said with a sigh. “But if they are one and the same, then this whole thing could be an elaborate plan to get back at me … and you.”

“That’s kind of what I was thinking,” Justin confirmed. “Did Mr. Spade have any idea how long it would take to check out Kevin Thomas?”

Brian shook his head. “He was really interested in what I had to tell him, but he didn’t say much about what he would do…other than check it out.” Justin looked thoughtful for a moment causing Brian to eye him suspiciously. “What are you plotting?” Brian asked.

“Um…nothing, just thinking.”

“Stay away from Kip Thomas or Kevin Thomas or whoever the hell this guy is. I don’t want a repeat of your last encounter with Kip.”

“Believe me, neither do I.” Justin let out an involuntary shudder. “Besides this man is in Philadelphia and I have a job and … commitments.” He rolled over and propped his head up on his hand. “There’s much more important things here in Pittsburgh.”

“Is that right?” Brian felt Justin’s hand play with the soft fuzz below his navel. “Like what?”

“Like eating,” Justin said getting up quickly. “I’m starved. I need pizza.”

Brian groaned as he pulled Justin’s pillow over his face. The last thing he needed was pizza, but he knew he would eat some as soon as it arrived.



*****



They were sitting on the floor by the coffee table eating pizza, when the phone rang.

“You don’t think that could be Mr. Spade with some information?” Justin asked.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Brian replied as he grabbed the portable phone. With a snort he looked at the caller ID. “Yes, Mikey?” he said into the receiver.

Justin made a face and grabbed another slice of pizza.

Brian listened as Michael wanted to know what was happening about Chase Hammond and the possibility that Brian was his brother. “Half brother,” Brian corrected. “I don’t have any more information. The private dick is still working on it.” Brian rolled his eyes as Michael lit into a liturgy of what the detective should be doing. “I’ll be sure to pass your suggestions along to Mr. Spade,” Brian said as Michael finished his list of actions that were needed.

“Well, you better. You must be paying through the nose for that detective,” Michael said.

“Enough,” Brian replied, meaning that he was paying enough and also that he had heard enough of Michael’s complaints.

Michael seemed to get the message. “The real reason I called…”

“You mean that wasn’t it?” Brian asked with a snort.

“No, I was just enquiring about how you were,” Michael said slightly miffed by Brian’s negative snort.

“Is that what you were doing?”

“Briiiaaan…”

“What is it, Mikey? Tell me the real reason you called,” Brian said deciding he had baited his best friend long enough.

“Ben and I have decided to have a party.”

“No shit!”

“We thought a week from Saturday would be a good day for it. We want you and Justin to attend.”

“I’ll have to check my social calendar,” Brian said tongue in cheek.

“Brian, I want an answer.”

“When did you get so pushy?”

“Ben’s been giving me lessons.”

Brian snorted. “I’ll speak to the little woman and let you know.” Brian winked at Justin who glared in response. He did not like being called the little woman.

“Isn’t Justin there with you? Ask him now,” Michael instructed.

“Yes, Mikey,” Brian said contritely before putting his hand over the mouthpiece. “Michael wants us to come to a party a week from Saturday. What do you think?”

“Sure,” Justin said.

Brian raised that Kinney eyebrow. “You want to go?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Okay, but you’ll have to buy mega-bottles of booze to get me sufficiently drunk to put up with their pretentious neighbors.”

“I’ll take care of you, my pet,” Justin said with an evil chuckle.

It was Brian’s turn to glare. “Justin says we’ll be there, Mikey,” Brian said into the phone. His tone was not exactly festive.

“Great! And no backing out. I expect you to be there with bells on,” Michael teased.

Brian glowered. “Don’t press your luck.”

“Goodbye, Brian,” Michael replied cheerfully before he hung up.

Brian slammed the phone down on the coffee table. He grabbed another slice of the now lukewarm pizza and ripped off a piece with his teeth. He chewed silently on it while Justin tried not to giggle.

After a couple of more bites of the glutinous mass, Brian tossed the remnants of the pizza slice back into the box.

“What kind of party is Michael having?” Justin asked, licking the last of his pizza from his fingers.

“How the fuck should I know?”

“Well, did he say it was a dinner party?”

“No. I would think he had enough sense not to invite me to another dinner party,” Brian said in an exasperated tone.

“That was a housewarming,” Justin reminded him.

“He didn’t like my gift.”

Justin chuckled, then cleared his throat when he saw the look on Brian’s face. “I’ll talk to Michael and find out what kind of party it is.”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes it matters. We need to know if we should bring a gift for some occasion or just a generic hostess gift.”

“Thank you, Miss Manners.”

“Sheesh, what a grouch,” Justin exclaimed.

The phone took that opportune moment to ring once again. Brian merely stared at it.

“Let me get it,” Justin said facetiously as he picked up the portable. “Hello?”

“Justin, it’s Lindz.”

“Hi, Lindsay.” Justin looked at Brian who shook his head indicating he really didn’t want to talk to her. “What’s up?”

“Could I speak to Brian?”

“Um, he’s lying down. He had a hard day.” Justin grinned wickedly at his partner who shook his head.

“Is that code for you’re having sex and I should call back later?” Lindsay asked with a laugh.

“Well, sort of…”

“I won’t keep you,” Lindsay said quickly. “I just wanted to make sure Brian is going to go to Michael’s party.”

“He said he would. Why?”

“Michael’s invited the kids, JR and Gus, and the rest of the family. He was kind of afraid that Brian might not want to go to a party at his place because of what happened at some dinner party Michael had. Do you know about that?”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway, this party won’t be anything like that, and Michael wants Brian … and you to attend. It should be fun and friendly.”

“I’ll do my best to get him there,” Justin promised.

“Thanks, Justin.” She cut the connection.

“And what might constitute your best attempt at getting me to go to Mikey’s lame ass party?” Brian asked not looking at all pleased.

“I don’t figure it will be hard at all,” Justin said batting his eyelashes at Brian.

“You don’t, huh? And why is that?”

“Because Gus will be there.”

“Gus?”

“Yes, apparently Michael is inviting the youngsters as well as the slightly more mature members of their families.”

“Hm…”

“See, you’re interested already.”

“If I don’t have to put up with Marty and fucking Eddy then maybe I might actually consider going.”

“It’s Monty and Eli.”

“How do you remember that shit? And who the fuck cares?”

“In spite of what you may think, some people do like to be called by their correct names. It’s not that hard to remember names.”

“If you don’t give a fuck, it’s very difficult,” Brian countered.

“Like the first night we were together and you couldn’t remember my name?”

“Well…”

“Michael had to keep reminding you that I was Justin.”

“So that’s why you have a soft spot for dear old Mikey. He remembered your name.”

“Hardly,” Justin replied. “He only remembered it because he wanted to be able to say ‘Goodbye, Justin’ when he convinced you to get rid of me.”

“But he wasn’t able to get rid of you.”

“Lucky for you,” Justin grinned.

“Yes, it was.”

Justin’s grin got really wide at that statement. “Maybe I should show you my other best attempt at getting you to go to the party.”

“I’d like to see that.”

“I thought you might, but you have to come up to the bedroom to see it.”

Justin stood up and started towards the steps up to the loft bedroom. He gave a little swish of his ass just before he started to climb the steps.

Brian was right behind him.